A COUNCIL has been urged to adopt a local version of the worldwide Kyoto climate change agreement in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.

A Surrey Heath Borough Council committee has agreed to put pressure on decision-making members to sign up to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change.

A group of around 80 local authorities has already signed the declaration, adopted at a local government conference held in Nottingham in 2002.

Mirroring the intentions of the United Nations’ led Kyoto Protocol of 1997, the Nottingham declaration commits councils to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases and act as a catalyst to other organisations to promote awareness of climate change.

The borough council’s leisure and environment committee has endorsed the signing of the document following a motion put forward by Lib Dem councillors in December 2004.

At a recent meeting, the committee considered a report which described a range of actions parts of the borough council were already carrying out under the general heading of action on climate change.

But the report concluded such actions were currently fragmented and uncoordinated and that to sign the declaration would help make them more effective and focus the council’s efforts.

The recommendation will now be laid on the debating table at a meeting of the full council.

If approved, it would commit the council to not only improve its own environmental performance but also publish targets and monitor progress.

The authority will also work with other bodies and consider the effects of climate change locally, identifying ways to adapt policies.

Cllr Bob Smith, who put forward the motion, said climate change was not “someone else’s problem”.

He added: “Local authorities can and should act as leaders in their areas to promote environmentally-sensible behaviour, and they need to start with a public commitment to reduce emissions in activities under their direct control.

She added: “Locally, I have worked with Woking Borough Council, which has already committed to the Nottingham Declaration.

“I should like to see Surrey Heath follow the lead of Woking who are recognised as a Beacon Council for their work with sustainable energy and have already reduced their CO2 emissions by 72% since 1990.”

On an international level, climate change is a political hot potato with countries such as America and Australia against the restrictions of the Kyoto Protocol.

A new Asia-Pacific climate pact — hailed as an alternative to the dogged Kyoto process — brings together Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States, which together account for nearly half the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Announced in July, the pact aims to reduce emissions through technology and voluntary partnerships, as opposed to the more stringent targets of the Kyoto alternative.

Should the council sign the declaration, schools, community groups, businesses and other organisations will be encouraged to voluntarily increase recycling levels and reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

Guidelines for developers will be issued in order to ensure new flat blocks and housing plots are built to environmentally-friendly standards.

Cllr Smith added: “Developers should be encouraged to use certain techniques and look at insulation levels, water consumption and generally improve the efficiency of buildings.

“We should, as a licensing authority, also be looking to encourage the taxi drivers to invest in lower emission vehicles. Basically, where we have an influence, that’s where we can use this to effect.”